After the B-17 had been abandoned by all its crew members, Jack Davis being the last to jump, it continued its flight, guided by the Automatic Flying Control Equipment. The altitude was no more than 500 feet and gradually diminishing. The course led straight to the village of Eerbeek. There some people got the fright of their lives. Mrs. Riek Brouwer-Boezewinkel recalls: "I was standing at the window of our house with an Amhem evacuee, when this colossus came straight at our house. Luckily it hit a birch tree in the meadow, after which it veered away from us. It then crashed. I saw no one come out."

The "8 Ball" had crashed into a meadow at the Voorstondense straat, just short of the Apeldoorn Canal. The Germans were quickly at the scene and guarded the wreckage at first. After they had inspected the interior and removed the remaining machine guns and their am-munition, the wreckage was left to itself. Many civilians visited the location and many pieces were stripped off "the 8 Ball". After the war a scrap metal firm took away the remnants of this once proud B-17.